WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

I have had so much fun in the last few days playing with photography! I got to do picts with my kiddos at Setniker Farm (LOVE IT!) last weekend, and then did a family shoot for a friend here in town a few days ago. It has been fun to sit and edit images and play with colors and tweaks.
I have now done 3 family shoots at Gentle Woods Park here in Monmouth. It is just a favorite park of lots of families that we know. I have been looking at my current work vs. the work I did there this same time last year and it blows me away at how much my work - and my skills - have improved.

Last year I was running on automatic, doing all the newbie thngs, and just trying to get a business up and running by building my personal portfolio. This year I am shooting in RAW, using high tech editings tools, I have a business blog, have changed the whole genre of my photography style, and now have enough experience behind me to raise my session fees to reflect my time and talent. I have even been teaching a basic photography class!
For the most part, last year I didnt even know that any of the things above existed, and I would have never been able to teach anyone what I was doing because I was so busy learning myself!

I am looking forward to what this coming year will bring. In photography you just will never know it all because no matter how much you learn, there is always MORE out there to do, see, or know! Skills change, technology changes, seasons and people constantly change - always providing new opportunities to learn, grow and enjoy working with people.

I hope that no matter how my personal skills develop that I will always remember that this talent that I have been given is a precious gift. I hope that I will always remember that it is my privilege to use this gift to capture joyful moments that have been divinely given - whether it is a breathtaking sunrise, or the playful antics of a little person. Nothing that I do is created by me, I have always had the divine inspiration and guidance to color, to capture, to to give.

I know that having this talent has changed me in many ways. I have never been a people person, and yet when I get behind the camera I can play with kiddos, set poses, work with many different kinds of people, and not be afraid. That is a HUGE change. I have slowly been teaching myself (and getting LOTS of help from others) to learn the technology side of photography. I mostly know the lingo, know the basics, and even know some nifty tricks that I couldnt even fathom this time last year. I have been given a photographer's eye. Looking at everything, noticing the tiniest details, being held in awe at the vast shades of colors in a sunset or a cloud or a leaf, or the delicate jewel of a dewdrop. I have also been given the inspiration to change my photography style to reflect the inner and outer beauty of my clients and the creativity that flows through me. I am happy, my clients are happy, we find joy together in creating something beautiful and making memories that will last. These are just a few of the many things that reflect how I have changed and grown, and learned this year.

Who knows what fun, and what challenges, will come with photography this next year. I look forward to writing again this time next year and seeing how many new things I will have learned, how many new people, and good friends I have been able to share my time and talents with, how much technology will have changed again. So many new things to look forward to - 2010 is going to be a great year!